#France vs Wales

[youreamonocoque]

France please put like 50 on them, it cannot be close and they cannot win... You got that?

[nathjonesey-75]

Memories Of An Xpansive Day: 25 Years Later

“Sometimes you will never know the value of something, until it becomes a memory”

Dr Seuss

As we age, we are constantly reminded of “special” dates. Those pieces of history which relate to ourselves, our families and friends – yet more often, nowadays have nothing to do with us individually, more so with the domination of information via the daily torrents of technology’s titbits. So, it’s perhaps more so satisfying when an actual special date occurs to the mind via simple, pure memory rather than the swathes of nudges regarding famous, renowned dates, which are mostly repeated “oh yes – that again” scenarios, from social (and the desperate need of a more appropriate word to “social”) media.

For this reason, the value of this particular date which arose in my eroding mind archives a couple of weeks ago, holds such a sparkle over time, for me. While I believe time merely continues rather than loops in any way, it’s a rare speciality to be able to connect two periods of time – for context and value. Plus, this was the most unlikely combination of elements, linking to form a day: an elderly grandmother, rugby union and late-night raving. Hardly linked, in the mind of a young nineties graduate.

Twenty-five years ago, on the 6th of March 1999; I was living in Cardiff, at a bit of a standstill rather than at a progressive time of my life, at twenty-three years old. Sharing a house with three Cardiff University final year students – with very little in common – two were younger than myself, one older as a “mature” student. Although, again a crassly inaccurate describing word, mature – regaling tales of his mates mooning in bars on nights out - was always his weekend’s highlight, at the age of twenty-seven. One of the two girls living there made more money than me each month – and she wasn’t even working. Had she been a part of recent generations, she would no doubt have been an applicant for – if not a regular face on a “reality show” based in Chelsea. Silver spoon and all that…

Thankfully, looking back – it may have been the beginning of the end of the most testing two years of my younger life. A near life-threatening accident during my final year at university which resulted in late graduation, but the first really challenging experience of mental health difficulties from the head injury. Living in a twistedly imperfect house share, not earning a great deal of money, but making connections. Valuable connections, through one of the part-time jobs I held at that time.

I worked part-time at one bar, Bar Essential - just before the swift gentrification of the capital’s high streets began over the following two years; then part-time at a British Gas call centre. It was there which the links were formed – and as what I would designate myself as “a pretty shitty networker”, it helped me over the following two years while I lived in the city.

Me, Circa 1998-99

Having been a DJ for all of fifteen months, my Soundlab Belt Drive decks had become my best friends and my own miniature bedroom family at the smallest room in the house on Robert Street. We weren’t a loud bedroom family – my house “mates” made sure of that – in fact, retrospectively I should have had a sign on my bedroom door with “The No Charisma Bypass Room”. In other words, I connected with my records, turntables, speakers and guitar – more than I did with the other human members of the household. In the days before most people had mobile phones (mine came a year later in the new century) and certainly way before smartphones, we continued to make our own entertainment. Or not - as while I worked evenings, the excitable “evenings with Titanic, cheese and biscuits” was a consistent thrill for the others. In the adapted style and words of the period’s new television comedy icon, Jim Royle; “Titanic, my arse.”

However, what I was so far unaware of – was an undercurrent of rave culture bubbling among the desks and offices at British Gas; or “Gas” as many called it – the high-rise administration centre on Churchill Way. Over the remainder of the year, as I left the bar job and moved from part-time to full-time there, I joined what was memorably a collective of party animals who looked rough on a Monday morning, giving one another knowing smirks in the lift to the upper floors about the crazy nights on the tiles at either The Hippo Club or The Emporium (or both, or one of a few other clubs) over the weekend. So, to be invited to Gatecrasher at the Que Club in Birmingham on the evening of March 6th – by my own line manager, Suzanne (and a few others), was exciting. The complication was; that I was also going from Cardiff – to Llanelli, my home town, that day – for my grandmother’s eightieth birthday.

       Music Week, February 6th 1999                         

    

Maybe it’s the realisation that – at my current age of forty-eight – that the proposition of now going that fifty miles to West Wales, then back in one afternoon, then another hundred-and-twenty miles to Birmingham, then dancing until dawn – would be as preposterous an idea as thinking at that time; that Wales – who lost 0-51 at home to France the previous year in the old 5 Nations tournament – could possibly win at the new Stade De France in Paris…on the same day…

The thing about memory is that it can be one of the most rewarding and powerful assets left in the body when you’re nearly hitting a half century in years on this currently deranged little planet. That era; that decade, a golden time for music; one for which I’m eternally grateful for having been alive and old enough to live (and survive – in more ways than one!) through. I can’t honestly say the same for Welsh rugby as far as linking it to the word “golden” in the same decade. Nevertheless, another possible turning point, this could become for what was then seen as the national sport. Those who were there would surely argue so.

March the sixth. I’m sure that the selective memory process in my mind has muffled the dreariness and cramp of the late morning shuttle bus to Swansea, then the connecting Swansea-Llanelli bus (or maybe on that day there was actually a Cardiff-Llanelli shuttle, we all know how inconsistent public transport has always been, especially across South Wales). The highlights and fondness of that day’s fragment would have begun with sandwiches and tea, which would have coincided with the 2pm kick-off at Stade De France. Even the faint memories of chatting with my then-only remaining grandparent on her eightieth, while the previous year’s whipping boys – produced an astonishing, astonishing win in France – in the days where international comebacks away from home were far less frequent as they have become since those early few years of the professional rugby union era.

   France vs Wales, Saturday March 6th 1999

   

Dynamically, that day was just about to shift up a gear, as the unglamorous nature of reaching the next target – rushing for a bus or train, often in wet conditions in South Wales – was the next step. As I bade my grandmother a happy birthday in a common early twentysomething “hi, bye” fashion, then a happy farewell to my family under the smiles of a shock Wales win in France (the first since the year of my birth in 1975), it was game on; round two – let’s have it!

I reached Cardiff and Robert Street Glowers (for “Towers” would be the most undeserved word of all undeserved words so far in this anecdote), with a scant hour in which to get to my cave, sharpen up, have a “livener” drink and reach the pickup point (which I think was somewhere on Newport Road) and join Suzanne, her friend Rhian and a chap whose name I have sadly forgotten – in the petite Ford Ka on the rainy road to Brum. Here is the sharp contrast which has been a quite definitive feature of my life. Day, versus night. The escaping from Llanelli and its narrowing shackles, “tout-suite” and the running to a city where a rebellious, darkened culture emanated from post-rave antiestablishment gave me more of an identity. A culture which was so synonymous with the nineties, the music and nightclubs of that time – and one I learned ever so gradually over the years, was the sanctuary (remember that word for later) for neurodivergent people. More on that after the dance.

Anyway, Gatecrasher at The Que Club. A majestically used ex-church, which became legendary for dance music events – and a lineup epitomising the sounds of the near-millennium. Sasha, Judge Jules, Scott Bond, Guy Ornadel and Seb Fontaine formed the main amphitheatre’s DJ arsenal. While the second room was also a quality ensemble of more funky house music DJs – the first two hours under the massive dome of the main room became seminal for me, without knowing its powerful longevity, at that time. This meant that the majority of my time was spent between open and close, 11pm until 6am; either on the principal auditorium or dancing among the seated area to the right of the stage. Even looking at the picture of it now, the seated area felt considerably bigger twenty-five years ago!

                                   

The sublime personal connections for me around the whole day, coming from a strictly devout religious family and going to The Que Club, which was originally built as a Methodist Church. As many have professed, music has become a form of worship or a place where folk have found their own souls in different statures. This evening, then into early morning and beyond – for me was seminal in three ways. Not only was it the first time I had seen Sasha (who was already an icon to me, but would become a greater icon of electronic music and DJing inspiration for me over the years) DJ live, but added to him actually opening a main room; playing first on the bill, between 11pm and 1am – and exactly what he played in that slot - and its legacy. Once again, the value of a memory – and the relevance and personal value of that moment; reached an ecstatic and transcendent high (or trance-cendent) – here.

In The Que by Birmingham Music Archive

After the previous twelve hours of zipping cross-country, meeting and greeting family; followed by excitement, time stopped – in the middle of the giant open, yet bustling dancefloor at Que, sometime around 11:45 to midnight. What…was I hearing? A breakdown, which although inebriated, I may have been – now ethereally-entranced, something wonderful just hit me. A moment which has stuck me forever. Xpander. When serotonin is passed like an adrenaline shot through the body, you feel like you’re in outer space – this was the pinnacle - of the sixth of March. Forget the heroics of the men in red at the Stade De France, this (also unbeknown at the time) Welshman behind the decks – along with his studio wizards behind the scenes, Charlie May and Duncan Forbes (and the engineering of Andy Ford and Gaetan Schurrer) – had created a track which became one of the tracks of the club era – and I’d just heard it for the first time. For the rest of the night, I was in dreamland.

Sasha - Xpander

Five to six years previously, I had been playing rugby with - and against some of those victorious players in Paris for Wales. But the game, its politics and its sewn-in machismo which I’d always lived around but never felt part of; increasingly unfulfilling. For someone completely in the dark about a condition such as ADHD which in parallel continued to affect daily cognition, while thinking there was an inherent problem with themselves. It’s a positive change that professional sport now does support mental health issues in a more open manner.

France v Wales, Stade De France 1999

Yet, in the famous words of a dearly departed poet of these nearby parts of South London where I write, as Maxi Jazz of Faithless said:

“This is my church, This is where I heal my hurt It's in natural grace, Or watching young life shape”

Only released six and a half months before this event, the words of God Is A DJ hold more value for me now than they did at the time - and no, I never subscribed to the Mixmag poster boy ideology of Sasha being “Son Of God”, just an incredible influence and musical force for me as a DJ and producer. The fact he’s also Welsh is a bonus. Now, for me as a faithless man – the inspiration as much as healing on a regular basis for me, over the last twenty-five years for me has been mostly via music, having lived in varied, distant parts of the world and learnt a Bible-sized volume about life, but still not quite any closer to understanding much.

I couldn’t remember a heap of tracks played after 1am, other than the final track before Sasha departed into the shadows of the Que Club – a Perfecto remix of Grace’s Not Over Yet. Probably the first time many inside the venue would have heard it. After dancing with vigour, enjoying the company of my travelling troupe until the event closed at 6am, Seb Fontaine played the final track. A track which – at that time, if you had it, it was gold dust among the DJ fraternity. I’d just happened to purchase said 12” vinyl a few days beforehand, as a limited release on the LCD label at Cardiff Queen Street’s HMV. It was called Sanctuary, by Dejure. It wasn’t released for wider purchase until the following year on Fontaine’s Spot On Records label, so when I played my first respectable gig in Cardiff at a decent venue, Po Na Na in July or August 1999, I had a supportive crew from British Gas with me. I played what I would happily call “a blinding set”. Be that as it may, what I learned that night was one identical thing Sasha learnt via a proverbial “bollocking” from Hacienda maestro DJ Jon Da Silva around a decade previously. DO NOT PLAY YOUR BIG TUNES WHEN WARMING UP FOR THE MAIN DJs. I was told. Almost in a Michael Caine in The Italian Job voice when he blasted “You’re only supposed to blow the bloody doors off!”

It was one lesson I may have learnt via a verbal slap around my face at the wrong time regarding my record-spinning naivety – but it stood me in good stead for the years to come as a DJ. Meanwhile; when I played Sanctuary during the set, I was suddenly offered an unlimited amount of money for it, while seeing a wallet opening figuratively like the Red Sea from Moses’ arms. Bank notes, like waves rippling with the flick of the thumb and parting the leather on either side. By one of the resident DJs who then became a clubbing and DJ mate for my next few years in Cardiff and beyond in my music affinity circle, whose name I shan’t mention. I’m glad I kept to my guns that night, despite my low income and bank balance. “Nope”, said I. “Not for sale”.

One feeling which stuck with me from just after 6am on the seventh of March 1999 – I do have the taste to choose the right tracks, even if I haven’t really started the performing journey yet. I have had the night of my stumbling young life, at an incredible construction, in a community of people who want feelings of liberation and identity. I left the magnificent, although by then, dishevelled expanse with the echoing words from Sanctuary’s sampled breakdown playing, ringing in my ears as we stumbled through the morning damp-dark of Digbeth’s streets. I knew when I’d reach my cave I’d have to listen to it immediately. Quietly, but immediately.

“Something for your mind, your body and your soul”

Dejure - Sancutary

[thewales-family]

The Princess of Wales attends the Rugby World Cup France 2023 Quarter Final match between England and Fiji at Stade Velodrome in Marseille, France -October 15th 2023.

[purpleplaid17]

Jess Watches // Sat 24 Feb // Day 152 & Sun 25 Feb // Day 153 Synopses & Favourite Scenes & Poll

Six Nations 2024 Round 3

Ireland (1) vs Wales (5)

This one didn't have my full attention tbh but I saw enough to know the final score didn't do Wales justice. They've been unlucky. And the broski was actually in Wales watching this one with friends in a local pub.

Scotland (4) vs England (3) (with friend)

Me, knowing my dad's walking past my room: Come on, Scotland! My dad: *silent, murder in his eyes* Me: *the girl in front of the burning house meme*

He told the broski I'm Scottish now and moaned about me never supporting England lmao.

France (2) vs Italy (6)

I wish I had watched this live but I only heard about that ending afterwards. The tension around that overtime penalty kick. Wow.

Severance (rw with mum) 1x02 Half Loop

The team train new hire Helly on macrodata refinement. Mark takes a day off to meet with a mysterious former colleague.

Helly: What even are these numbers? Like, do we even know what we’re supposedly cleaning? Dylan: My theory? The sea. Helly: The sea? Dylan: Yeah. Think about it. Okay, if our Outies are up there severing their brains, shit must have gotten pretty bad. Famine, plagues, et cetera. So what is a desperate humanity to do? Helly: Populate the sea? Dylan: Populate the sea. But first, they gotta send probes down to the sea to clean up all the deadly eels and shit, ’cause we can’t cohabitate with that. So, we send the probes down, they send us the data coded, we sense what’s eels, and then we tell the probes what to blow up. Helly: This is the leading theory? Dylan: Nah, Irv thinks we’re cutting swear words out of movies.

Merlin 2x02 The Once and Future Queen

Realising that his jousting opponents always let him win because he is the royal prince, Arthur pretends to leave court and enters the lists in disguise to win on merit. He stays with Guinevere, who tells him some home truths about his arrogance, and they kiss.

Gwen telling Arthur how rude and arrogant he is versus Merlin telling Gaius how he's expected to do so much on his own. Can someone please check on both of them and make sure they're ok. Maybe bring them some hot chocolate with the little marshmallows on top.

[holy-soup]

NEW ZEALAND vs FRANCE! NEW ZEALAND vs FRANCE! NEW ZEALAND vs FRANCE! NEW ZEALAND vs FRANCE! NEW ZEALAND vs FRANCE! GET THEIR ASS GIRLIES!!!

NZL 10 - 17 FRA at the time this post was made

[wileys-russo]

once again sharing the streaming for todays international matches (the ones I can find anyway)

England vs Scotland

Spain vs Sweden

Republic of Ireland vs Northern Ireland

Portugal vs France

Italy vs Switzerland

USA vs China

Austria vs Norway

Wales vs Germany

Netherlands vs Belgium

[theroyalweekly]

NEW: The Princess of Wales attends the England vs. Argentina #rugbyworldcup2023 match at the Stade de Marseilles in France this evening.

(📸 Mike Egerton / PA) -- Royal Circular

[estiqatsi]

Wales vs France 24-45

Highlights:

https://youtu.be/hjyyX7L6JSw?si=jjxpha9AgzWS11gs

[flagwars]

Dragon Flag Wars: Round 1

There are so many amazing flags featuring dragons out there, so this tournament will have a wide variety of dragon flags! Because there are so many, each poll in Round 1 will feature four or five flags. Thank you for everyone for your submissions, and I hope you’re excited to see which dragon will reign supreme in this ultimate battle! Let me know which flag you’re rooting for in the comments! The tournament will begin on Friday.

Round 1:

1. Somerset, England vs. Plain Blue Banner vs. Hattingen, Germany vs. Lukova, Czechia

2. Slochteren, Netherlands vs. Dragon Banner (The Wheel of Time) vs. Craig-y-Dorth, Wales vs. Trégor, France vs. Kazan, Russia

3. Michalovice (Havlíčkův Brod District), Czechia vs. Wales vs. Garwolin County, Poland vs. Plomelin, France vs. Łańcut, Poland

4. Strzyżów County, Poland vs. Wessex vs. Nemenčinė, Lithuania vs. Potěhy, Czechia vs. Ljubljana, Slovenia

5. Contrada del Drago, Siena, Italy vs. Cardiff, Wales vs. Litobratřice, Czechia vs. Ingolstadt, Germany vs. Líšný, Czechia

6. Korea (1856) vs. Evenley, England vs. Malta vs. Dlouhá Třebová, Czechia vs. Empire (Yōjo Senki/Saga of Tanya the Evil)

7. Manipur Kingdom vs. House Targaryen vs. Yegoryevsk, Russia vs. Biała Podlaska, Poland vs. Wachtberg, Germany

8. Bořitov, Czechia vs. Bhutan vs. Warszawski Zachodni County, Poland vs. Stjørdal, Norway vs. Yellow Dragon Flag (황룡기)

9. Myanmar Royal Dragon Army vs. Suchohrdly, Czechia vs. Mladějov na Moravě, Czechia vs. Navès, Lleida, Spain vs. Erpužice, Czechia

10. Presidential Standard of Georgia vs. Flag used by Du Wenxiu vs. Štichov, Czechia vs. Royal Standard of Henry VII of England vs. Heide, Germany

11. Babice, Czechia vs. Royal Standard of the Suebi dynasty vs. City of Brussels, Belgium vs. Canton of Chinese Dragon from the Imperial Chinese Navy Fleet vs. Mírová, Czechia

12. Novoorlovsk, Russia vs. Kyiv Oblast, Ukraine vs. Santa Margarida i els Monjos, Spain vs. High Valyrian (Duolingo) vs. Y Wladfa

13. Qing Dynasty vs. Order of the Dragon (Manasija Monastery) vs. Amestris (Fullmetal Alchemist) vs. Łańcut County, Poland vs. San Giorgio Bigarello, Italy

14. Coast Guard Administration of Taiwan vs. Presidential Standard of South Vietnam vs. Somerset County Council vs. Moscow, Russia

15. Dolní Čermná, Czechia vs. Beesel, Netherlands vs. Y Ddraig Aur (royal standard of Owain Glyndŵr) vs. Vietnamese Monarchist flag (proposal)

16. Y Ddraig Ddu vs. Mikhaylovka (Volgograd oblast), Russia vs. Church of St Margaret, Westminster Abbey vs. Garter Banner of Sir David Brewer

[acemapleeh]

there can only be one blonde boy in this show because there are too many blonde men so let's vote on who deserves it the most

this is the bracket i'm going off of

vote in the upcoming daily polls

EDIT: Somehow Swiss didn't make it even though I know I saved a picture for him and had him on the list??? I'll figure out a solution. Neither did Germany like what is wrong with me

EDIT AGAIN: I fixed it. I think. I can't believe I forgot the Germans.

EDIT AGAIN AGAIN: I have added two more contenders!

Ordered by Rounds 1) Norway vs France 2) Prussia vs Romania 3) Latvia vs Finland 4) Wales vs Denmark 5) Switzerland vs Winner of Round 1 6) Russia vs Winner of Round 2 7) The Netherlands vs Winner of Round 3 8) Germany vs Winner of Round 4 9) Poland vs Iceland 10) Sweden vs America 11) Luxembourg vs Canada 12) England vs Estonia

[youreamonocoque]

why are you like this?

[olympeline]

A few headcanons for Hetalia Scotland:

Is Alisdair a canon name? If it’s not, idc. It’s a good one 👍 If all the brothers are Kirkland then I like to think it was Scot’s surname first. England (and Wales by extension) took it when the Scottish James I became king of England and so formed the United Kingdom. That all his little(?) brothers took his name is definitely a feather in Scot’s cap.

No one knows if he or Wales is the oldest brother, including Scotland and Wales themselves. The first time they happened to cross paths during their wandering around Great Britain, they each saw another boy who looked the same age. Scotland insists he is the elder brother, Wales disagrees but more quietly.

Scotland has a favourite city out of Glasgow and Edinburgh. But he’s not going to start a civil war in his country by telling anyone which it is! (Psst, it’s Glasgow)

The Auld Alliance was a fiery, passionate affair between Scotland and France. The kind that was pure, mutual lust at first sight and got physical very quickly. Like, “we just met for the first time while our bosses hammer out details and now we’re banging against the wall in the antechamber” quickly. Sexy, sophisticated, continental France vs. wilder, rougher Scotland was just what the doctor ordered for both of them. Unfortunately, it didn’t really last. That kind of white hot, burning hunger never does. It didn’t help that a significant chunk of the non-physical part of their bond was built on their mutual hatred of England. You can’t build a long term love on something like that. Once Scotland’s relationship with his little brother started to improve, his affair with France simultaneously cooled. These days they’re better off as friends. Scot recalls their relationship more fondly and feels more wistful than France does.

And yes, that Scotland was eventually replaced by England as France’s soulmate does make his complicated feelings towards England even more strained. Thank ye for asking *Sound of Scottie teeth grinding*

Scotland holds his liquor best out of all his brothers and can drink most of Europe under the table. Only true heavyweights like Russia and the Balkans give him a run for his money

Like all the UK bros, Scotland has magic and can see magical creatures. Vistors to his country are often surprised to learn that Scot’s favourite isn’t the famous Nessie (though he is very fond of her) but rather his herd of unicorns. Hunted nearly to extinction in the rest of the UK, the unicorn’s last stronghold is up in Scotland. During one of their many wars, England slew Scotland’s oldest and most beloved unicorn (“The Lion and the Unicorn were fighting for the crown…”) and took its alicorn back to London. Even after the unification and a regretful England returning it, Scotland is still bitter.

Yes, Scotland does play the bagpipes. Yes, he’s very good at it. When he plays and Wales sings, it’s really something to behold…er, listen to

What’s Scotland’s least favourite thing about his home? The rain? The cold? No, you fool! The midges. Dear GOD the midges. Eat you alive in summer they will!

Scotland’s cooking makes the rest of his brothers look almost competent by comparison. He has the dubious honour of making both some of the most unappetising food (haggis!) and also the most unhealthy. Everything battered, deep fried, and washed down with fifty cans of drink so stiff with sugar it would make America blush. What’s not to love? Diabetes. Diabetes is not to love. Scot’s bosses have been on a health kick lately but their nation is as stubborn as any of the UK bros and it’s not easy persuading him to change his ways

Scotland wears his kilt like a true Scot: nothing below and god help ye if there’s a headwind 🍆

Kitain (Britain cat) was born in Scotland but doesn’t like spending much time there because of the climate. He still comes to visit Scotland in the summer, though. His favourite place to sleep is on Scotland’s feet. Keeping his toes warm like a living heater

Scotland is very proud that he was able to hold off Grandpa Rome and stop the Romans ever getting a real foothold on his turf. Though that pride is complicated by feelings of guilt that he couldn’t protect his little brothers. Even if they were enemies at the time, it still chafes Scot that part of their isle was occupied for hundreds of years. Seeing England and, to a lesser extent, Wales under Grandpa Rome’s boot and watching them be Romanised was painful

And yes, let’s talk about that elephant lion in the room: England. England, England, England. The golden child of the UK bros that Scotland can’t get away from or ignore no matter how hard he tries. To say Scot’s feelings towards his baby bro are complicated is an understatement. He’s so proud of what they achieved together, but wishes he could claim more of the credit. He feels guilt for not driving the Romans out of Britain, but a small, hateful part still gloats that only he could stop the invaders in their tracks. He’s glad they’re on better terms these days, but resents that the unification has eclipsed him so much in the eyes of the world. He knows in his heart of hearts that his relationship with France was never meant to last, but seeing France with England hurts him even so. Scotland was the older brother, not England. It should have been him. It all should have been him

Scottie has a lot of Nordic in him and gets on well with the Scandis. He could probably make a good case for being one of them, but nothing’s come of it yet. Estonia is very jelly

His favourite food is scotch eggs. His favourite drink is irn bru in the day and good old Scotch whisky at night

[thewales-family]

The Prince of Wales and Prince George of Wales attend the Rugby World Cup France 2023 Quarter Final match between Wales and Argentina at Stade Velodrome in Marseille, France -October 14th 2023.

[purpleplaid17]

Jess Watches // Sat 9 Mar // Day 166 & Sun 10 Mar // Day 167 Synopses & Favourite Scenes & Poll

Six Nations 2024 Round 4

England (3) vs Ireland (1) (with L)

My dad couldn't believe that I was actually very vocally supportng England lol. It was a thrilling match. And after Ben Earl scored a try he looked like he wanted to kiss one of his teammates on the mouth. He should have imho. Also, my friend's surname is Smith so she was highly delighted with that last-second drop goal. "Never underestimate a Smithy."

Wales (5) vs France (2)

I only watched the second half and thought Wales might have been able to keep up with France's power and pace a bit longer but it must be knackering trying to keep up with all those fast passes and bullet train surges. And I missed Le Garrec's 40m reverse pass but caught it on highlights. How did he do that??

Severance (rw with mum) 1x08 What's for Dinner?

The team prepares a plan. Mark attends Devon and Ricken's party.

What do we think the numbers they're refining mean? Management were suspiciously relieved they'd made their quarterly quota.

Ms. Casey breaking protocol to answer Mark honestly 💔. It seemed Cobel put them together one last time because she wanted them to remember. Does she have a severed loved-one she needs to remember her?

Shout out to Natalie's actor, Sydney Cole Alexander, for playing the role in such an unnerving way. She expresses so much with few words.

Still mesmerized and disturbed in equal measure by the waffle party. Those masks will haunt me but the violin was fire 🔥.

Trivia: Ben Stiller provides the voice for animated Kier Eagan.

Amphibia 1x01 Anne or Beast?/ Best Fronds

Sprig tries to capture a mysterious beast to prove that he's responsible. / Sprig takes Anne swimming in a nearby lake to help her feel less homesick.

A cute introduction to a new fun froggy world. The episode did start with Japanese audio which threw me for a minute lmao. (The last thing I watched on Disney was Japanese so I guess it just keeps whatever language you last watched as the default??)

[fullmentalitylove]

feeding the gimbappe girlies

(France vs Wales friendly match 10/11/2017)

[arcticdementor]

Every time the subject of a possible US civil war or national divorce comes up I hear the same micron deep takes. America couldn’t break up because the division isn’t by state, its Urban Vs. Rural. Or that Urban vs. Rural isn’t the divide, even then people of different politics are mixed up together. Or that for every clear red or blue state there’s a purple state. None of which is in any way relevant to anything until you recognize the naïve mental model many of these people are working on... These takes betray a belief that a second civil war would be some kind of conflict between coherent independent states who’ve started identifying with/against the idea of union such as happened in the 1860s… or that somehow there’d be a series of tidy Quebec style referendums resulting in a clean division such as exists in so many meme maps:

…

The truth is any post-breakup map of America would not resemble an electoral map following state lines, nor even a redrawing of state boundaries, such that the fantastical greater Idaho or Free State of Jefferson might exist as part of a wider Confederation of Constitutional Republics, or a Breakaway Philadelphia city-State join a Union of Progressive Democracies…  No. It’d be nothing so comprehensible or easily mapped to modern politics. A post breakup America would probably look closer to this:

…

(I really do apologize for all I’m going to have to digress) For our purposes we can broadly divide history into 2 types of period… Periods of Centralizing trends, and periods of Decentralizing trends.

…

Centralizing Eras are consistently defined by big Heroic (classical sense of the word) figures that lead great armies or great nations and either win and centralize control under themselves or lose and get centralized under another. Alexander, Hannibal, Scipio Africanus, Julius Caesar, Agustus, Wolfe, Horatio Nelson, Napoleon, the Duke of Wellington, Lincoln, Robert E. Lee, Grant, Lenin, Trotsky, Woodrow Wilson, Mussolini, Hitler, Rommel, Churchill, Montgomery, FDR, MacArthur, Stalin, Zukav, Mao… On and on we could list the names.

…

Normandy and England’s William “The Conqueror” captured England (but not Wales, Scotland or Ireland) creating a unified kingdom on both sides of the English channel…in a feat every English schoolboy has memorized ever since (1066 and all that)… And William’s total Domain was less than 1/20th what Alexander had achieved 1300 years before. Likewise Shakespeare immortalized Henry the 5th as the very avatar of Mars…Achieving the English dream and conquering France! Only to die of dysentery within the year and have his territorial gain be entirely lost within a generation. Likewise Charlemange’s 8th and 9th century unified empire of France and Germany broke apart within a generation. And as late as 1718 Charles XII’s extraordinary military victories and revolutionary tactics couldn’t save the Swedish empire’s decline from great power status.

…

Centralizing eras are marked by finicky, barely technological, advances that A) are not evenly distributed and allow the powers which have them to dominate the powers that don’t, and B) require vast numbers of hierarchically organized people working together in sophisticated coordination to make it work at all, often with extensive infrastructure than can only be worked by such a bureaucracy. Napoleonic Divisions, 5000 man Aircraft Carriers, trans-Continental railway or telegraphs, and massive continent severing canal systems (Suez/Panama) are prime examples. Decentralizing eras are the opposite. Decentralizing eras are defined by sophisticated capital and skill intensive weapons that can be utilized by relatively few people, and which are widely distributed (it being far easier to get even ridiculous amounts of money to invest in tools or skills, than it is to get 10,000+ all obeying at once you). We “sea” this with the very first decentralizing era: The bronze age collapse.

…

the medieval era is defined by 3 iconic technologies:  Heavy warhorses with advanced stirrups, castle/keeps (and the ranged weapons such as crossbows that lose most of their effectiveness when not defending them), and the Knights armor.  This is the iconic image of the medieval period. All three are capital intensive technologies wielded by small numbers of wealthy men. Later Castles could be held against a force of hundreds by a mere dozen men, warhorses and advancing armor made knights sometimes 10-20 to 1 more effective than ordinary footmen. Within the span of 500 years major historical battles went from 100s of thousands of people in great migratory armies crashing against empires of millions, to 20-60 incredibly wealthy men, all named in the record, facing off against a similar force. Hell individual duels often decided the fates of vast swathes of country side. This is how totally heavy cavalry, armor, and castles just destroyed the very possibility of large complex states and the attendant armies. Now ask yourself… Which type of era are we in?

…

None of our leaders are analogous to the great conquerors. Rather they are like the Persian and Lydian kings and courtiers of the Pre-Alexandrian period, or the late Roman Emperors and generals, or the thousands of European kings and Courtiers, endlessly fighting grinding wars that achieve remarkably little. Their ultimate achievement being that they might be mostly forgotten as merely mediocre… instead of screwing up monumentally and going down in history like Varus, or Commodus, or Croesus of Lydia whom the oracle told he’d “destroy a great empire”… but whose wars only destroyed his own. These are the kinds of people our elite are doomed to be remembered as… if they’re remembered. McNamara’s tenancy as Secretary of Defence isn’t remembered for him creating a fighting force to rival the Myrmidons or Napoleon’s old Guard, he’s remembered for McNamara’s Morons (Decent Review). . If current trends continue we’re on a fast track to eventually hit the apex of decentralization: Neo-Medievalism.

…

The above is a map of the Holy Roman Empire, one of the Successors to Charlemagne’s empire which, depending on the dating, lasted from about 800ad-956ad (its very debatable when you date the “start” of the empire) to its final dissolution by Napoleon in 1806. Meaning it lasted longer than the original Roman Empire… Naively we might think this empire is a great counter example to my “decentralizing eras” thesis… Except for one thing: This was never “THE MAP” of the Holy Roman Empire. The above map comprises every territory that was ever part of the “Empire” none of which were ever all in it at the same time… And none of which were ever really part of the same political unit… Its really hard to know if there was even a single year every polity nominally within the empire recognized each other, or were even meaningfully at peace. Indeed the “Holy” in the name was a source of countless wars and conflicts, given It was adopted and maintained (grossly simplifying) as part of a double play, the Emperor at various points wanting to use his title as “Holy” Emperor of Rome to annex the Papal States and assume authority over the Catholic Church, and various Popes aspiring to use their religious authority to place their chosen allies in control of the “Empire”. The Emperor bounced back and forth between being God’s appointed supreme ruler on earth, literally crowned by the Pope, and being the Supreme enemy of the Pope in turn. Its a mess.

…

You know how everyone gets confused by the electoral college or how American senators worked before they were elected… imagine that confusing mess x100, and the results determined who’d be civil waring with who, whether you’d be going to war with the Pope under the banner of the Antichrist, and later whether Protestants or Catholics would be going under the boot. So Voltaire’s quip that the Holy Roman Empire was “neither Holy, nor Roman, nor an Empire” was very bitingly true… it often warred with the Popes, far from being Roman on at least one occasion it invaded and sacked Rome, and far from being an empire it was more a loose federation that elected its “Emperors”… But even that’s a simplification because at various points the pope was literally crowning the emperor, Rome was part of the empire, and the Crown was hereditary! It simultaneously was and wasn’t Holy, was and wasn’t Roman, and was and wasn’t an Empire. Seriously, this is the map without any simplifications:

Now tell me, is there another 3 word national title that’s hotly debated? To what extent is the USA really United? States? or America? The meaning of all 3 have shifted massively since the founding… the Union is unrecognizable from what the founders envisioned: becoming a Nation after the civil war, instead of the loose federation they set out to create. The states have gone from being almost fully sovereign republics to interchangeable imperial provinces, and are now again asserting increasing amounts of that lost sovereignty. And of course “America” neither comprises the whole of the Americas.. nor is it wholly within the Americas. ( we cannot forget Hawaii) Might there come a day we quip the USA is/was neither United, nor States, nor America? Hold that thought.

…

The reason the HRE is so confusing and the reason most Medieval and early modern history is so confusing, is Medieval states… really aren’t states. Fans of Game of Thrones or Shakespeare understand the concept of feudalism and the military hierarchy of Knights answering to lords answering to kings, and Hollywood has taught most people to appreciate how that chain of command can become very conflicted and prone to rebellion or schemes, especially around a succession crisis (do you support the old King’s son, brother, or cousin to succeed him? Well who’s going to give you the better deal?) These stories make great hour and half dramas… But even as all these dynamics did happen, the actual medieval system was vastly VASTLY more complex.

…

Multiple factions and entities within the same very small stretch of land might all wield some form of sovereignty and ability to make laws or rules, formal and informal, and enforce them with violence… all commanding some version of legitimacy. An individual town might have: 1. a Mayor or sheriff elected by some fraction of the propertied townspeople able to pass laws and have them enforced, even to the point of violence or death sentences;  2. An ecclesiastical order empowered to enforce its own laws upon the members of its order, maintaining armed retainers, and empowered (depending on the era) to root out and deal with heretics, (also at various points they owned and/or regulated brothels and vice crime);  3. local lodges of various guilds that variably are empowered to enforce their monopolies, collect debts, and deal with thieves, fraudsters and embezzlers in their midst, possibly including networked merchant guilds that across their various lodges might have more armed men than all but the largest individual towns; 4. Noble families that maintain arms and loyal retainers, with ancient rights and customs, including discretionary power to deal out violence to those who intrude, insult, or otherwise conflict with them… including dueling with their equals, or just brutalizing members of the lower class who insult them (imagine the brawl that starts off Romeo and Juliet, or the internecine fighting throughout, and how restricted The Prince is in setting any consequences for the Capulets and Montagues for their semi-open warfare); 5. A Knightly Order that maintains oaths, loyalties, obligations and interests distinct and separate form the nominal official chain of military command (think Templars, Hospitallers, Teutons); 6. An individual ward which a powerful alderman runs as a fiefdom/racket with a very reliable collection of thugs at his call; 7. All of the Above all over again multiple times, because we’re talking about a city that’s a conglomeration of smaller towns such as London, and the whole thing’s still organized as if it were 7 distinct entities. 8. The actual lord or governor who “rules” the town and answers to the king… on days he feels like it, and all the retainers and support people he uses to “govern” the place. There is no coherent unified monopoly on violence like we imagine the state to hold in this situation. Instead various factions and institutions have all amassed various forms of legitimacy: cultural, political, and practical…and have all carved out their little niche in which they can deal their own version of law, violence and justice. If you are a lawyer or have to deal with politics or government, or regulation, you might already be starting to see why I’m predicting this for the future but for those who are less versed in American governance:

…

But they were both of them deceived. For neither the English or French monarchies truly understood the power they had wielded, nor whom had granted it to them: It was not the Crown itself that wielded absolute power, but rather the central government, and the central government was not a collection of neat hierarchically delegated power… the lawyers and bureaucrats were not gaining their power from the crown, the crown was gaining its power from the lawyers and bureaucrats. And as soon as the crown was impeding the Lawyers and bureaucrats centralization and concentration of power in their class, the bureaucrats and upstarts rebelled… Thus the English and French revolutions. Thus the state consumed the sovereign, great men were still able to wield the state like Napoleon or later Hitler, Stalin, FDR, Churchill and Moa… But the leaders now needed to appease the state, not the paper pushers the other way… then by the 1960s it had become basically impossible for even great men to control the bureaucracies beneath them. Stalin may have been killed, Kennedy was killed, Kruschev and Nixon soft couped… And no nation has had a great man leader since… the most successful leaders have been those who most effectively surrendered the last rememenants of their executive power… The executive branch and the “office of the president” is more powerful than it has ever been. The executive branch has never employed more people, nor the Whitehouse. The PERSON of the president though has never been weaker.  Trump was besieged unable to fire any of his “executive” branch “employees” and now Biden physically embodies the state of things… The man who sits in the oval office is puppeted by the Whitehouse, and the Whitehouse by the executive branch… a complete inversion of how the organization is supposed to work.

…

Whilst there have been many unitary states in history for whom any and all power and authority, at least officially, formally, came from one centralized institution and myth, Whether that be absolute monarchism, where it is concentrated in one person, or Unitary Republics where the “voice of the people” is 100% and only concentrated in one single assembly, The US is slightly more… sophisticated.

…

This balance of powers is not dissimilar to how hard it was for a duke to control or discipline a petulant lord... Sure there was some hypothetical mechanism to remove him or wage war… but the incredible effort required means you’d rarely if ever do it for any except the worst offender. But all this becomes fractally more complicated when we zoom out. The US federal government receives its authority officially from the constitution… where does the constitution receive its authority? In an absolutist monarchy or French/Russian style revolutionary “republic” the origin of political power would be simple. The king or Director would answer to “God” or “The People” and it would be understood that the government’s continued existence meant God and “the People” were pleased and not to be consulted further on the matter. But when the American Constitution says “We the people” it actually refers to bodies and organizations entitled to represent them and give consultation. Namely the states, who all have their own assemblies, governors, courts and constitutions.

…

But even this only scratches the surface because there are also hundreds of territory holding recognized sovereign nations within the US. Namely the 326 federally recognized Tribal Indian reservations each of which have their own treaties establishing rights and semi-sovereign powers derived not from the constitution, but from their own pre-existing sovereignty (if they didn’t have this congress wouldn’t have made treaties with them… they’d have just unilaterally passed a law). And these are real powers… they have armed native police, perhaps 10s of thousands of armed men collectively, who answer to the Band Councils alone.

…

Is it any wonder the bureaucrats have been able to carve out such scrutiny free power for themselves? but of course informally for most of its history the map of real power looked nothing like this.

…

Remember those 377 officially recognized top level governments with constitutional sovereignty in America alone?  Forget that, that’s a fiction… The real number that exercise violent power, Ie. Real Political Power, is somewhere in the thousands if not tens of thousands. The City of New York is not included on that list (officially it is answerable and dissolvable by the state of New York, LOL)… and the city of New York has 36,000 armed and ready police officers at it’s beck and call (as many as Napoleon had when he invaded Italy). Likewise every dinky little city and county has its own police departments, often with elected sheriffs who functionally have independence that rivals state governments, and are only really removable by a process of impeachment at the state level. And this is before we get into the Cartels, militias, ideological movements, and collections of friends who are all shockingly armed and in many cases better trained and versed in infantry and low intensity warfare than about 90% of military personnel or police.

…

I’ve by no means covered everything I want to on this topic. Mapping out the future of what a Neo-Medieval post national regime, and how we’d get from here to there is likely to be my life’s work. Both in that I’m going to be writing about it for the rest of my life and that we’re going to be living it. But one of the thing’s I want to emphasize as it would be a mistake to think of these developments as merely the rise of a “Mad Max” warlord driven world. Far from it, whatever successor institutions, aristocracies, and duchies devour the modern welfare states in a orgy of map redrawing and private fortune making will probably find that there is a great deal of economic and technological low hanging fruit just lying about. I doubt it will offset the scale of the disruption globally, but things like Cheap automobiles, cheap bush planes, cheap housing construction, low taxes, no DEI mandates, and a whole host of other things now criminalized by “Democracy” will suddenly be opened up and we’ll probably see a massive change in settlement patterns and ways of living as a result.

…

We are seeing the inevitable conclusion and failure of the “Liberal Democracy” born into the world around the French Revolution. “Democracy” has expanded to the point where more people have a hypothetical right to vote than exist in the country and governments import them to vote which way the state likes, whilst “Liberal” civil rights have expanded to the point where everything is a right: Healthcare, Schooling, to get hired for jobs, to have your feelings defended… Everything is a right… Except for any of the liberties actually established in and of the founding documents or revolutions of the 18th century. Those are now forms of hate and terrorism. To speak your mind is no longer a protected right, but to be protected from someone speaking their mind about you demands the full armed response of the state.

…

This is an introductory essay. A justification for my ideological projects to come. What is going to happen is largely inevitable but how long we live through the chaos of the fall or how quickly we settle on the equilibriums that will hold with the new balance of powers will be a matter that could take a 30 or 100 years war… or it could wrap up into a stable equilibrium in 5-15. I hope by digging deeper we can shorten that window, speedrun the new order, and limit the damage these abominations of governments can do on the way out.